Hypoxia and Medicine

Tell me about the dead zone of Chernobyl?

What's going on over there? Will it stay a dead zone forever? Are any organisms living there right now? Serious answers only!

Public Comments

1. For millions of people still living in areas contaminated by the fallout from Chernobyl, the disaster is still unfolding. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated. Many are still eating food laced with cesium 137 and other radioactive isotopes. The soil in these areas will be dangerous for at least three hundred years and in some places it will never be safe for human habitation again.
2. There are several interesting websites with detail on life after Chernobyl meltdown. One I encountered (but don't have the link to) was by a writer who spent time detailing and photographing the landscape for a recent book. Some areas will remain hot for hundreds of years to come, while some wild life and plants have returned. The statistics and possible outcomes are scary. Man will not return to this area for long term living during our lifetimes, that is sure. For brief stays in some of the affected areas, yes.
3. there's about an exclusion area about 20 miles in radius. Wildlife is clearly there and slowly taking over the city. No grossly oversized or mutated animals. You can still go there, but you have to be careful and measure the radiation all the time. I doubt people will return there. The station is shut down. Land is cheap in Ukraine, and the place has quite a reputation, as you can guess.
4. No big problems. The animals are living there fine, people are exclude for a few miles around but visits are not a big problem. Death estimates were set at about 40,000 but so far there have been about 50 immediate and 60 or so long term. Radiation is not as bad for you as once claimed, indeed a "radiation shock" may help protect the body